Social Justice
This week’s presenter is Mary Hooper, Ph.D.—Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at UWG, Director of ULead West Georgia. Craig Willard heard her give a presentation on social justice at his church and invited her to present on the same topic for Kiwanis near the celebration of MLK, Jr. Day.
ULead West Georgia “focuses on innovations in performance-based preparation of educational leaders and the development of professional learning models to support systemic school improvement initiatives.” In her presentation, she focused on how ULead helps educational leaders recognize and address issues of inequity to move toward social justice. Hooper discussed the distinctions between equality (treating everyone equally) and equity (ensuring everyone has the same opportunities for success). Treating every student equally does not ensure equality because it ignores the fact that students come to the table with differing levels of privilege and oppression. Acknowledging privilege and working to overcome oppression is key to creating equity in learning.
photo by Angie McDaniel: Dr. Mary Hooper and Will Ozier